Scotland begin to believe in miracles after fantastical win

The T-shirts on sale outside this arena prior to kick-off declared: "Walter says relax, we will do it", though they had been worn in faint hope rather than genuine expectation. Now they merely smack of a statement of the obvious. After one of the most staggering results of recent times, a dismissal of World Cup finalists at the height of their powers, the euphoria lingering in these parts today serves notice that Scotland, perceived also-rans, continue to blaze a trail towards the European Championships.

The giddy reality of this victory will still prompt players, fans and management to pinch themselves, fretful they might yet awake to discover all this has been a cruel dream. So gloriously unexpected was this success, especially given the first-half battering whipped up by the French, that the scenario this morning - maximum points from three games, with France beaten and Italy five points adrift - lends itself to the fantastical.

Indeed, the immediate aftermath of this triumph prompted an admission from Walter Smith. "No, I didn't think it was possible for us to have nine points after these first three games," conceded the manager, as deadpan as ever despite Scotland erupting all around. "Lithuania away was a difficult game, then France at home . . . I thought we needed a major miracle to get through the group, and I still do. If you're thrown into a section against two teams who reached the World Cup final, when we never even qualified, and only two teams go through then you need a miracle."

The French convinced themselves that, far from miraculous, this was freakish, yet their profligacy did not warrant sympathy. Their inability to pierce the massed Scottish ranks, particularly during an excruciatingly one-sided first period, transformed Smith's approach into that of tactical genius.

His outlook had been shaped by the reality of the occasion. The visitors were expected to monopolise possession and, had the hosts torn at them, they would have picked them off via the pace of Thierry Henry and Franck Ribéry. Instead, the Scots sacrificed their own reputation for frantic early assaults and smothered everything flung at them.

There was risk involved. They could not prevent Henry curling a free-kick against a post while, at times, James McFadden - an isolated concession to attack - would turn inside his own half to be confronted by a four-man French back line and Claude Makelele waiting to snaffle back possession.

The discipline of their back line, marshalled superbly by Gary Caldwell alongside experienced older heads, ensured a pair of French goals were disallowed, correctly, for offside and, eventually, blanket defence and rugged determination yielded a solitary chance. When it came, it was grasped.

The Scots had hacked, snapped and suffocated everything France had mustered, then, with the visitors starting to grow exasperated, they pounced. Paul Hartley's first corner was dealt with unconvincingly. His second, skimmed into the area with French defenders befuddled, reached Caldwell sliding in ahead of Eric Abidal with the Celtic centre-half's shot scurrying beyond Grégory Coupet. Cue delirium, the stands transformed into a swarming massed celebration, with the natural order in this group in tatters.

"I told the boys that France would begin to show a level of frustration after having such a huge level of possession and territory," explained Smith, whose every plan is clicking into place these days. "Sure enough, they started to push up the pitch which gave us a bit more room to play in the centre." Darren Fletcher, Barry Ferguson and Hartley duly emerged from first-half anonymity to impose themselves on the occasion though, even so, the speed at which the French became dispirited was unforgivable. Raymond Domenech complained the local ball boys had not returned possession quickly enough, though his side's profligacy did not warrant any sympathy.

There were still chances amid the siege, Henry and Louis Saha fluffing free headers, but the composure on show was all Scottish. There was a sense that the hosts, unflappable to the last, would simply not be breached and a country which has not qualified for the last four major tournaments ended up embarrassing the dominant European footballing force over the last 10 years. Now, in victory, heady optimism may just be transformed into swollen expectation.

"Other teams will start to look at us now and try and work out what to do to ensure we don't win matches," added Smith. "We've seen what Scotland are. We have a reasonable level of ability without having world-class players but that doesn't mean we can't achieve. Teams will start to notice what we're doing. That, if anything, will make it a little bit more difficult for us, but you've got to take that.

"It was a big ask to beat France, and now we have to go to Ukraine. We can go there with hope, confident that it might turn into something a wee bit more tangible at the end. There'll be upsets, and disappointments, along the way but if we continue to play and work as hard as we did on Saturday, and get that little bit of luck, I don't think we'll have any fear."

These days, statements of conviction are no longer reserved for slogans on T-shirts. Where there was hope, now there is belief.